Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2019 August 2

                          Chamaeleon II Dark Cloud
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Don Goldman

   Explanation: A small constellation hiding near the south celestial
   pole, The Chamaeleon boasts no bright stars. Stars are forming within
   its constellation boundaries though, in a complex of dark, dusty
   molecular clouds. Some 500 light-years distant, the Chamaeleon II dark
   nebula inhabits this view where the cosmic dust clouds standout mostly
   in silhouette against the starry southern sky. The telescopic frame is
   about the angular size of a Full Moon and so spans about 5 light-years
   at the dark cloud's estimated distance. Scattered near center a
   telltale reddish glow from identified Herbig-Haro objects is seen in
   the sharp image, jets of shocked glowing gas emanating from recently
   formed stars.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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